Training

Good morning... What can I get for you?

Training has been an evolving thing at Starbucks. When I started with Starbucks, you went through 24 hours of classroom training, followed by several sessions on the register... greeting and ringing in customers at the Datachecker registers. You got drip for them... beans for them... pastries for them... you ground beans... you asked if they needed filters, etc... All of this time netted you some experience with the various SKU numbers... there was a cheat sheet at the register, but mostly you remembered the common ones... 100276 always sticks in my mind... I can't remember if it was a bottle of vanilla or a tumbler...

Coffee had SKU numbers and was always 3 digits... 221 for 2 pounds of Kenya... 521 for a half pound... 121 for a pound. 130 was Sumatra I think... or was it 133... no that was Sulawesi.

During the slow times, they would allow you to play with the bar... maybe teach you how to close down a group with the blind filter. Your partners would tell you about the various filters for the bar... the solid one was for cleaning... the big one for triple shots... the single shot... but we always used the double filter for best results. You never marked a cup... you just remembered the drinks... it forced you to get to know the customers. One by One... Detail by Detail. I won't lie... it was hard. You forgot things... you had to ask customers to repeat... soon, you just weaved it into the conversation. Then there would be a magical day when it all clicked... you had milk when you needed it... shots were on... the smell of coffee in the air.

At the end of the day, you would have milk and coffee on your shoes and apron... There was always a black hue on your hands... much like an auto mechanic. The barista became intimate with coffee... often running their hands through the bean drawer, soaking in the caffeine... recognizing the beans...

"Oh... that's Sumatra, and I know because the bean is huge. Oh, that one is New Guinea... I can tell because of the shape... yep, the color tells me it's Espresso... and that one is French"

Only through this connection with coffee did the rest of what we did come into view.

Yes, we had all of the basics in training... the videos... the facilitator (who was actually trained to do so)... the fellow learners from yours and others stores... I think all of that was good for baristas to connect with others in the company... It was that experiential learning where the magic happened... where the pride grew... where the connection strengthened.

Now I know that some of you are saying... "But Pat... that's so expensive... and there just isn't time anymore to give partners that kind of training."

My response... How's it working for you now?

We'll see you tomorrow for your usual.

Pat Nerr...